Hope in crisis

Project Earnie - Artificial Intelligence unlocking community-driven content creation. Enabling personalised, impactful learning outcomes.

Flow DiagramProject Earnie

Our purpose built content management system hands content creation and

distribution. Users with low I.T literacy can be taught to use our simple drag and drop,

visual interface to digitise and publish multiple types of interactive content

Content is deployed within a HTML (browser) wrapper that can be used both online and offline. The interface can be custom designed and works

across platforms and devices.

Our core infrastructure is built on the Amazon Web Services Platform. A

powerful, robust global network that can allow us to rapidly deploy and scale

across multiple regions. Powered by IBM Watson, our Artificial Intelligence engine will allow us greater levels of

automated assessment and curriculum generation, resulting in personalised

learning experiences throughout their education journey.

Ultimately, our product has been designed to benefit the student,

as well as their immediate community. We provide the tools

to support community driven content creation, as well as aim

to minimize the disruption to learning that children face in

emergency settings.

So robust and versatile is our innovation product that it is

currently being used in a range of settings including:

- Digital roadside signage (Transport Accident Commision -

Victoria Australia)- Support the intergeneration

preservation of a remote Austraiian Indigenous community

(Ara Irititja Project) Having a centralised database provides education partners access to learning profiles, behaviours and progress of

students. Information can be accessed if a student changes region. The addition

of A.I. means that student analytics can be further used to deliver relevant, personalised content based on literacy

levels, interests, ethnicity, gender, language - even disability.

Education, foundation and aid partners benefit by gaining access to a low cost

technology solution that alleviates administrative and facilitation burden. Access to real time reporting means

that learning outcomes can be regularly monitored and improved. The ease of content creation means deeper

engagement with local communities to collaborate on generating culturally

relevant content for students.

Flow DiagramAra Irititja Project

The Team at Ara Irititja Project decided to make the static database

more engaging for Indigenous children by turning language, art, food, stories into first language

interactive games

Keeping Culture Database An Australian Indigenous cultural

repository that includes 20 years worth of language, cultural, photos

and multimedia content

The Team at Ara Irititja Project use our content creation tool to build apps, story books, audio books, games,

videos (anything HTML / Javascript / Browser Based)

Elders may choose to make additions in a cloud collaboration environment. They

may choose to add additional videos, correct language, or remove content

Once content is created, it is sent (real - time) to a learning facility in remote

central Australia where a team of indigenous elders review, approve or

provide additions to the content.

Content is approved by both parties

Engaging, visual, mother tongue content created by the community is now delivered to schools in the region via an online library. Apps can be also made available for global download. Children are

currently encouraged, and are engaged in creating their own content i.e. (“growing vegetables,

shopping).

Content Management System

Upload images and photosUpload and maintain your own high definition image library, drag and drop into your book

Sound Effects and Background MusicInclude sound effects and background music to add instant interactivity and engagement to your books

Offline PlaybackTaking your library with you has never been easier. All books can be instantly published and delivered locally to your device.

Extended developmentWant to build activities? Add additional functionality and components using Javascript / HTML and SCSS.

Predictive Artificial Intelligence

Currently, AI chat box functionality is being utilised predominately within the financial services sector. AI gathers information via an automated chat feature, then pre-fills loan application forms and selects relevant products. This is an area of emerging technology that to date, has not been utilised effectively or globally within the education sector. We are prototyping a propriety AI engine that can sit on top of our content creation platform that will allow us to rapidly assess and auto-generate levelled learning material based on ethnicity, age, gender, literacy, numeracy as well as disability.

Based on your profile, the AI engine can build “your learning center” (subject to admin / facilitator approval). Users can jump in-and-out of this tailored learning center no matter where they are in the world.

Your Learning Center

When the drought hit Somalia Aminah’s family decided that they had to leave, making their way to Kenya and ending up in Dadaab refugee camp. While hoping to find better fortunes , they struggle with water scarcity, overcrowded tents and threats of violence. Aminah is an intelligent girl with strong English literacy skills, yet at school she sits in a big class room that doesn’t allow her to receive the focused attention to help advance in her studies. While she enjoys the time with her friends in a space that is safe for children and teenagers, she feels that she may be lagging behind. She wonders if she ever will be able to enter into university to make her dream of becoming a doctor a reality. Aminah has recently learnt that her family will be repatriated to Sydney, Australia as Asylum Seekers.

In Dadaab there are 35 primary and 7 secondary schools, all abiding by the Kenyan curriculum. 51% of children (3-17yrs) do not attend school, not to mention individuals over 17 who want to catch up on their education. For those attending school the average student to teacher ratio is 1:87. Of young people on 13% access post-primary education, and of those going to secondary school only 25% are girls. (Taylor, J., & Karanja, B., Report on Joint Education Mission to Dadaab Refugee Camps, 2016).

“Differentiation is vital to setting effective goals,” says Hulleman. “You can’t just do one thing and every child is going to learn. Kids come with background knowledge and different skill levels.” Chris Hulleman, an educational psychologist at the University of Virginia

While the total number of forced and child marriages in Dadaab are unknown, partially because of the shame associated with this topic, it continually is voiced by the aid agencies as a core concern. UNHCR states that “The opportunity for girls to continue education can protect them from early marriage and/or pregnancy and risks of sexual exploitation” (Education: Issue Brief 6, July 2015).

Aminah

Age 14

Nationality Somali

Location Dadaab Refugee Camp,

Kenya

Occupation 7th grade student

Emergency: Protracted Crisis,

Drought

Dreams

— Become a doctor

— Return to a plentiful Somalia in peace

— Have a family

— Gain entry to top medical school

Fears

— Being forced to return to Somalia into an uncertain future

— Shortages of water and food

Success Outcomes

— Graded educational material that can be transferred

— Educational material that allows her to truly advance

— Access to multiple types of learning content, legal, health, medicinal and cultural

Challenges

— The threat of forced marriage

— Personal safety whilst travelling to education facilities in camp

Personas

Aminah’s greatest challenge is access to both quality curriculum based content, as well as gender specific content. Like Alit, Aminah may find herself in a classroom with mixed genders, ethnicities and ages. She may find it inappropriate to ask gender specific questions about her health, safety and future aspirations. Her strong grasp on the English language means that the need for mother tongue content isn’t as pressing, however, the need for gender specific content is. Another challenge is that she will soon relocated to Sydney, Australia. Having a centralised database that can track learning progress and outcomes can help a student like Aminah minimise disruption by providing various organisations and support services (globally) access to her learning profile. This can be easily developed further to include a health profile, even identity and documentation.

Flow DiagramAminah

Mapped Content

Drought Assessment Tool

Gender specific learning material,

sexual health, relationships, female

inspiration

Once a week, Aminah has a video call with a Somalian female learning facilitator, based in Sydney,

Australia, where she will be repatriated. The facilitator has been tracking her learning progress.

These conversations are tracked and

stored on the platform

CurriculumActivities Community content

Recommended curriculum & learning

profiles are stored

Recommended Curriculum

Approval Process (Aid Partner)

Sydney based educators,

have access to Aminah’s

learning profile

Generates personalised content plan

AI ENGINE

Aminah can continue to learn offline &

online

Aminah’ ‘s family eventually settle in Sydney, Australia

When the fighting came closer to their homes and claimed his father, Farid’s mother decided that they had to leave. Going on a perilous journey and being smuggled across the border, they arrived in Jordan. Ahmed now works to support his family by doing day jobs like selling food on the street. Back in Syria he was an avid learner and wanted to become an engineer, now it is difficult for him to find the time to learn. Access to educational institutions is also hard to obtain. Farid has a basic understanding of the English language. He finds it hard to apply his English based learning material to everyday life, and is slowly becoming disinterested in learning. Farid and his immediate family are currently planning on seeking asylum in Sweden.

As of May 31st 2017 51.0% of registered refugees with the UNHCR are children under the age of 18 (UNHCR, External Statistical Report on UNHCR Registered Syrians as of 15 June 2017). Working children are usually employed 6 or 7 days a week, 33% more than 8 hours a day. Most of them receive a salary between $4 and $7 a day. In urban 84% of employers said that they had employed children in the last one to two years (Save the Children, UNICEF, Small Hands Heavy Burden, July 2015). It is estimated that 221 million primary-aged children from minority language and ethnic communities do not have access to education in a language they know, The unsurprising result is that literacy rates among ethnic and linguistic minorities are particularly low. Pinnock H. (2009) Language and Education: the missing link.

Farid

Age 15

Nationality Syrian

Location Amman, Jordan

Occupation 6th grade student /

Working

Emergency: Armed Conflict

Dreams

— Become an engineer

— Care for his mother and siblings

— Have his own family

Fears

— Being found and forced to leave the country

— Being tricked by an employer and not receiving his salary

— Never leaving unskilled labour

Success Outcomes

— Flexible time to study

— Education he can access from anywhere

— Personalised interactive material that he is interested in (engineering)

— Access to mother tongue, culturally relevant learning material.

Challenges

— Find adequate education means

— Need for money of family

— English skills under-developed

Personas

Farid’s situation describes a complex conflict crisis. One of the challenges that Farid faces is the inability to attend regular classroom based learning due to his work commitments. Artificial Intelligence, in conjunction with support from Educators (Aid Organisation), and his mother can become a powerful learning ally for Farid. AI can develop a personalised levelled content plan based on Farid’s learning goals i.e. he wants to become an engineer - this progress can be tracked remotely, by his community, by a partnered aid organisation or even his peers. Once Farid’s work situation changes, he can begin the journey on specialised learning (engineering) within a small group. Again, the course specific content can continue to be generated by the AI engine with facilitation only required for group activities.

Flow DiagramFarid

Mapped Content

Armed Conflict Assessment tool

Approved activities& student profiles generated

A.I continues to learn based on Farid’s progress

Farid downloads “my learning center” app

Farid may relocate to another region, where his need to work is reduced

and there is better education resource /

infrastructure

Having access to Farid’s learning

records means he can now be placed in a group that have

similar learning needs / interests

CurriculumActivities Community content

Recommended curriculum & learning

profiles are stored

Recommended curriculum

approval process (aid partner)

Generates personalised content plan

AI ENGINE

When the earthquake hit Nepal in April 2015 Ajit’s life was changed from one minute to the next. Fortunately, no one from his family was killed but their house was completely destroyed and so was his school. Some of his friends remained missing. Now they are living in a small make shift home that they put together out of materials taken from their old house. While it does not keep them warm, it gives them shelter from the monsoon rain. Ajit misses his school friends but hopes that at one point he can go to classes again to learn and play with his pals.

The earthquake and aftershocks in Nepal in 2015 killed nearly 9.000 people and injured 22.400. The earthquake affected almost 50% of of all 75 districts, and left 14 ‘severely affected’ and set to receive humanitarian assistance first. These areas have an estimated population of 2.8m of which 40% (1.1m) are children. In these areas most houses were made with rubble and mortar and were fully destroy by the earthquake, as did 80% of schools. (UNICEF, Moving on, April 2016) Think-tank the RAND Corporation, in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, studied 23 new charter schools around the US that were experimenting with personalisation techniques for student learning. RAND found that student achievement in maths and reading had improved faster than the national average since these programs began. The most dramatic impact is in maths for children aged 7 or 8, where personalised learning almost doubled

Ajit

Age 7

Nationality Nepalese

Location Outside Kathmandu,

Nepal

Occupation 2nd grade student

Emergency: Natural Disaster

Dreams

— Take over his fathers farm

— Care for his parents

— Travel around the world once

Fears

— Losing everything

— Friends remaining missing

— Losing family

— Having to relocate again

Success Outcomes

— Means to learn other than a class room

— Would like to engage in play based / social learning

— Make new friends

Challenges

— Schools destroyed

— Uncertainty regarding when formalised education will be available again

Personas

Ajit’s situation describes a natural disaster, resulting in the mass displacement of peoples, including children. One of the challenges that Ajit faces is the continuation of his early childhood learning. Children like Ajit are often assigned to makeshift classrooms, compromised of students at varying degrees of literacy and numeracy levels. Ajit is unfortunately suffering from anxiety due to post traumatic stress. This user journey outlines how our software can rapidly asses the learning needs of an individual, generate a student profile and recommended levelled learning activities. This personalised learning method could actually improve his literacy and numeracy levels, despite his emergency situation.

Flow DiagramAjit

Natural Disaster Assessment Tool

Ajit is provided with a suite of play based activities. He is taught and encouraged

to use the content creation tool to draw and record stories of his fears, his

hopes and dreams

Ajit’s progress is monitored by the A.I engine along

with the therapy team. He is slowly given higher level

exercises and activities until he is deemed ready to rejoin

formal education

Recommended Curriculum & Learning

Profiles are Stored

Ajit ‘s progress is monitored by a team of specialised therapists

A.I determines Ajit is suffering symptoms of anxiety and post traumatic

stress. Recommends specialised art therapy classes before resuming formal

education

AI ENGINE

Before the war Rashid was a passionate math teacher who tried to make arithmetics and algebra accessible to a wide range of students. Now, years into the war, schools are frequently attacked, and many are not usable anymore. It breaks his heart to see that many of his former students are no longer attending school, but even with fewer students the number per teacher increased as many teachers have fled Syria in search of a better life. He hardly gets paid for his work but his passion brings him into the crowded classrooms with children of different ages to give them a sense of future. Rashid has an acute understanding of the need to turn some of his paper based curriculum and activity into digitised format. He is currently struggling with finding funding and resources to do so.

From a enrolment level of 100% and literacy at 95% pre-war, enrolment in Syria now is among the lowest in the world with 1.75m (about 33%) not in school, and 1.35 are at risk of dropping out. One third of schools are out of use and 150.000 educational personnel and teachers fled the country. (Save the Children, Invisible Wounds, 2017)

Dreams

— For peace and a rebuilt Syria

— His students to succeed in life and professionally

Fears

— When his school might be attacked

— His students not making it to class because of an airstrike

— Inability to provide attention to all students due to language barriers

Success Outcomes

— Teaching material that would enable him to manage a diverse class room

— Actively participate in developing local educational content

Challenges

— Overcrowded classrooms

— Different age groups

— Different education levels

— Traumatised students

— Access to resources, financial, technological

Personas

Rashid

Age 32

Nationality Syrian

Location Daraya region, Syria

Occupation Teacher

Emergency: Armed Conflict,

Protracted Crisis

Whilst Rashid may take advantage of the assessment and curriculum generation features to better understand the needs of his classroom, his primary goal is to create his own set of learning apps in his native language. Rashid can take advantage of our simple to use content creation tool. Utilising a visual drag and drop interface, with mother tongue and levelled content capability, Rashid can not only digitise his own set of learning material, he can also publish them in a store to provide further financial support.

Flow DiagramRashid

Crisis Zone Assessmenttool allows visibility

into classroom needs

Rashid learns how to use the content creation tool (Intermediate / low

computer literacy required)

Develops ownapplications

He can track student progressand continue to develop more

advanced maths based applications

Rashid’s applicationworks both online & offline.

Stored in a global database so others organisations can use

Rashid encourageshis advanced students to

create their own apps for their peers & local

community

Rashid can see gaps where he

can contribute by developing his own

digitised content

Generates Recommended Content Plans

AI ENGINE

Esther loves good coffee and her two girls even more, to see them grow up and develop their full potential is her delight. She currently works as a program director for a global NGO to give children in emergencies the same access to education that her girls enjoy. They currently have 3 sites across multiple regions including Haiti, Rwanda and Cambodia. Esther has found an overwhelming need for mother tongue language material. However, the cost to develop their own technology, infrastructure and teams to create, scale and distribute content across multiple region lies beyond her organisation’s core competencies and budget allowance. Her teachers are currently stretched thin, running double shifts. A new conflict zone means that her organisation is preparing to rapidly establish a new education facility in the Middle East.

Fifty percent of the world’s out of school children live in communities where the language of the schooling is rarely, if ever, used at home. This underscores the biggest challenge to achieving Education for All (EFA): a legacy of non-productive practices that lead to low levels of learning and high levels of dropout and repetition”. The World Bank, 2005:Education Notes: In Their Own Language…Education for AllA recent survey in Jharkhand, India revealed that more than 96% of children at primary level fail to follow classes where the medium of instruction is Hindi. Only 4% of the rural population in Jharkhand speaks Hindi while 96% speak either a tribal or regional language. . UNICEF and Jharkhand Tribal Welfare Research Institute (JTWRI), 2013: “Language Diversity in Jharkhand: A study on socio-linguistic pattern and its impact on children’s learning in Jharkhand”

Dreams

— Good education for all, especially those in crisis

— Ensuring that her team maintain high education standards

Fears

— Easy access to students

— Educational material relevant to students

— Internal red tape

Outcomes

— Education material ready for rapid deployment

— Ability to track learning progress and make it visible to donors (data, reporting)

Challenges

— Does not have core technology delivery or innovation experience

— Proving the need to internal stakeholders for greater investment into technology

— Current strain on organisation due to overwhelming intake

Personas

Esther

Age 41

Nationality Dutch

Location Rwanda

Occupation Education, Aid

Organisation

Emergency: Protracted Crisis,

Armed Conflict

This user case demonstrates our primary method of financial and global scale - that is to alleviate the core technological, financial, operational and administrative burden on educators, facilitators, content providers and support workers. Our platform can do this by providing accurate data capture, document handling, student profiling, curriculum generation and real-time reporting ; Simple content creation and content distribution tool-set, online and offline capability, multi-language capability, global deployment, data security and privacy. Instead of investing upwards of $100,000 (AUD) in developing in-house technology, Esther can pay a monthly or yearly licence fee which can include global support.

Flow DiagramEsther

Deploy content to region

Teacher & software arrive on-site ready to deploy education

facility within 48 hours

Each siteis connected

via cloud / VPN

Remote education facilities

New conflict zone

Recommended curriculum approval process, Esther

selects teachers appropriate for the student composition

Local team / communitydevelops own mother

tongue content

Teaching resource (remote or on-site)

receive student profiles & lesson

plans

Global HQ content and learning from 3 remote

sites are stored and tracked

Local site databases

Esther’s team uses the assessment tool remotely to begin

understanding student needs before they arrive

Recommended curriculum & learning

profiles are stored

Generates recommended content plans

AI ENGINE

Approved activities& student profiles generated. Region

guidelines, ethics, data privacy, internal work-

flows are developed and approved

A strategic designer and entrepreneur specialising in the ideation and delivery of human-centric products and services. With a keen interest in innovation, technology, design and social enterprise, Luke continues to explore ways to utilise advancements in technology and direct them towards improving our way of life.

Prior to starting Hominal – a digital innovation company that provides tangible, measurable solutions to

human centred social challenges – Luke co-founded two other enterprises; Taste Creative and Fohm Digital. Luke has extensive product strategy experience, overseeing the delivery of large scale innovation projects for clients such as Cisco, Reliance Industries, Life Healthcare, UnitingCare Disability, University of Technology Sydney, The Salvation Army, Fairfax Media, Qantas, and the NSW Government.

Our TeamLuke Ma Project Lead & Founder

linkedin.com/in/lukeyma/

Hit100

Supporting the disability community with tailored meal solutions.

Hit100 is designed to support the disability community by providing tailored meal plans, dietician coaching and food delivery services. It is a complete healthy eating solution supported by a simple yet scientifically-robust 100 points

system. Our team supported the initiative by scoping and defining the entire user engagement experience from both the consumer facing interfaces, as well as the complete marketing automation solution. Using robust user research practices and

detailed work flow planning, we lead the creation of an easy to use program targeted towards a user demographic with specific health requirements.

Innovation ExperienceHit100 - Personalised Meals to Support the Disability Community

Independent Living Portal

Independent Living for the Disabled

The Independent Living Portal was created for UnitingCare Disability employees and clients delivering world-class accessible training for the purpose of training those with mild intellectual disabilities to live independently.

It is an online learning platform designed to provide personalised experiences, accommodate for auditory, visual and kinesthetic learning, facilitate open content and enable mobile learning.

We supported the program by leading the innovation strategy, concept development, technical and creative delivery of the program.

Innovation ExperienceIndependent Living for the Disabled

Quitta

Supporting your quit smoking goals

Quitta is an initiative to help those addicted to smoking live smoke free. Using a foundation of scientific research undertaken by the University of Otago (New Zealand), the product specifically aims to address the behavioural aspects of addiction.

Using the latest in geo-location and predictive data, coupled with a nicotine delivery device, users were able to be sent supportive messages or calls if they entered certain locations (bars or pubs for example).

As innovation partners, we designed the user experience, technology prototypes and supported the formation of the commercial enterprise.

Innovation ExperienceQuitta - Supporting your quit smoking goals

8+ years’ experience in UK, US, ANZ markets helping organisations (private/public/nfp) to communicate well and tell compelling stories to enhance reputation, build profile and achieve business objectives with a strong interest in the intersection of profit + purpose. Passionate about using the power of business to influence positive environmental and

social change, the last few years Alex has specialised in CSR, purpose driven brands and innovators working with Unilever, Patagonia, The International Centre for Social Franchising, UNICEF, Deaf Society of NSW, Red Cross Australia, product stewardship program MobileMuster and national urban greening project 202020Vision.

Our TeamAlexandra Program Director

linkedin.com/in/alexandra-mcdonald-17719543/

Christian is passionate about harnessing innovation as a tool to develop relevant synergic solutions to the most critical of needs. He facilitates the co-creation of solutions that combine the capabilities, resourcefulness, and ingenuity of both organisations and crisis-affect communities alike. Christian has worked on humanitarian and development projects in Jordan, Lebanon, India, and Serbia. He spent over 6 months in Jordan conducting research into humanitarian bottom-

up innovation, and working with international (e.g. More Than Shelters – developing inclusive business models & conceptualising incubator sessions) and local organizations with their finances (500.000€), and aid logistics. He co-lead a medical mission in Serbia for humedica international and has worked in the past in India where he helped orphanage directors start their own businesses to fund the children’s homes. Originally from Germany, he holds an MBA, and a Bachelor of Engineering.

Our TeamChristian Partnerships, European Lead

linkedin.com/in/cvietz/

Glenda is driven by the capacity of design to enhance our environment, to enrich our communities and to improve our quality of living. With almost ten years’ experience in architecture and urban design her passion is in tackling the complex challenges that our cities face with a focus on urban regeneration, international development and environmental sustainability; exploring the synthesis between our built and natural environments, creating innovative spaces and merging design and technologies to improve our quality of living. Her continual quest for learning, her love for languages and different cultures and her belief in positively contributing to the world has seen Glenda involved in various

international development projects and research across Asia including Cambodia, Nepal, Indonesia, India as well as Malawi in Africa. Glenda has returned to post-graduate studies undertaking a Masters in Disaster, Design and Development. Her current point of exploration is in understanding the complex relationship between identity, culture and place; how this impacts community resilience, particularly with displaced populations as a result of man-made (e.g refugee crisis and conflict) and natural disasters; and exploring how, through design can communities recover and rebuild after the event of a disaster?

Our TeamGlenda Project Support, Urban Planning

linkedin.com/in/glendayiu/

Ben is the founding member of a technology research company where for the last 10 years he has used his diverse knowledge to design systems incorporating new hardware technology and software. In 2013 Ben setup Wearable Experiments (We:eX) and heads up the technical development and integration of electronics into garments and accessories. Formally trained as an Electrical Engineer, he brings to the

team a commercial grounding but also likes to roll up his sleeves, taking a hands-on approach to design and product development. He leads a team of developers, guiding the architecture and philosophy of the bespoke solutions.

Our TeamBen Technology Director, IBM Watson Certified Partner

linkedin.com/in/moirben/

Co-Founder of two digital ventures Hello Hello Studio and Fohm Digital, Jarrad is a Sydney based designer who loves all things digital. Jarrad has currently been specialising in web but has a heritage in branding and video. Jarrad strives to craft immersive and engaging visual experiences.

Our TeamJarrad Interactive Design Lead

linkedin.com/in/jarrad-spring-2b983330/

Warren has 28 years, experience working with Australia leading educational publishers including Oxford University Press, Macmillan Education and Penguin / Pearson.

Approximately 8 years ago he started Inyerpocket Software - feeling he had a unique opportunity to re-purpose his vast archive of published book content into digital learning products. Having a background in educational publishing has helped Warren and his team of specialist software engineers

transition into the digital interactive space. His team has since been able to create templates that support teaching pedagogies and enable students to learn in a way that often requires less teacher or infrastructure dependence.

Warren has spent many years working with remote indigenous communities developing systems for people with low literacy levels to help them create or collaborate in creating bilingual content.

Our TeamWarren Founder, Appbooks

linkedin.com/in/warren-smith-10327840/

Thank You

luke@hominal.net+61 405 692 822